Kurzweilig is a useful word for when you want to sound a bit more sophisticated when you’re talking about a theatre show for example.

The best translation for kurzweilig is probably entertaining, although that word doesn’t quite capture the essence of it. Kurzweilig consists of the two words kurz and weilig, which means short and while.

When used in German, it describes the feeling when you do or watch something so interesting and entertaining that you don’t notice the time passing. So when you look at your watch after two hours of theatre and wonder where the time went, that is a feeling of something being kurzweilig.

Kurzweilig is not a word that is used in the most colloquial way, but for a bit more sophisticated descriptions. Because let’s be real: When you talk about a theatre play, it sounds much nicer when you call it kurzweilig instead of just “fun”.

The opposite of kurzweilig is langweilig (boring). While kurzweilig means something being of short while, langweilig means something seems to take a long while.

Examples

Wir haben am Sonntag einen sehr kurzweiligen Film gesehen.

We watched a very interesting movie on Sunday.

Leider war das Theaterstück sehr langweilig.

Unfortunately, the show at the theatre was really boring.

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